â" Wed Apr 20, 7:54 am ET The largest fossil spider uncovered todate once ensnared prey back in the age of dinosaurs, scientists find.

The spider, named Nephila jurassica, was discovered buried in ancientvolcanic ash in Inner Mongolia, China. Tufts of hairlike fibers seen onits legs showed this 165-million-year-old arachnid to be the oldestknown species of the largest web-weaving spiders alive today – thegolden orb-weavers, or Nephila, which are big enough to catch birds andbats, and use silk that shines like gold in the sunlight.

The fossil was about as large as its modern relatives, with a body oneinch (2.5 centimeters) wide and legs that reach up to 2.5 inches (6.3cm) long. Golden orb-weavers nowadays are mainly tropical creatures, sothe ancient environment of Nephila jurassica probably was similarlylush. [Image of fossil spider]

"It would have lived, like today's Nephila, in its orb web of goldensilk in a clearing in a forest, or more likely at the edge of a forestclose to the lake," researcher Paul Selden, director of thePaleontological Institute at the University of Kansas, told LiveScience."There would have been volcanoes nearby producing the ash that forms thelake sediment it is entombed within."

Spiders are the most numerous predators on land today, and help keepinsect numbers in check. So these findings help us "understand theevolution of the insect-spider predator-prey relationship," Selden said,suggesting that golden orb-weavers have been ensnaring insects andinfluencing their evolution since the Jurassic Period. [Read: AncientSpider Guts Revealed in 3-D]

"There were many large or medium-sized flying insects around at thattime on which it would have fed indiscriminately," Selden said.

In modern golden orb-weaver species, females are typically much largerthan males. This new fossil was a female, suggesting this trendstretches back at least as far as the Middle Jurassic, Selden saidâ" that is, back before the first known bird, Archaeopteryx, orgiant dinosaurs such as Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus.

Although this is the largest fossil spider known to date, it is not theoldest. Two species from Coseley, England, Eocteniza silvicola andProtocteniza britannica, both come from about 310 million years ago.

Selden and his colleagues are now investigating other fossil spidersfrom China, "as well as those from elsewhere in the world â"currently Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Italy and Korea," he said.

The scientists detail their findings online April 20 in the journalBiology Letters. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries onTwitter @livescience and on Facebook.

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